Saturday, October 11, 2008

a couple streets over

This morning I woke up and decided to go for a little walk down one of the streets nearby, just to look around and see if it was as interesting as it seemed from the car.

I see this deli off to the side on my way to and from work, and the sign catches my eye:

It's definitely not fancy, but something about the starkness of the letters gets my attention. Up close they're peeling, but that just seems to give them character.

I also ran across some vintage playground equipment, and had to kneel in really wet dewy grass to get on the right level:

I don't think they make stuff like that anymore, since it's solid metal and probably dangerous. I remember as a kid that when you got off they kept moving, depending on how loose the spring was, and sometimes they would hit you in the back if you were slow to walk away or a mean-spirited sibling launched one at you. Parents today would probably freak out if you tried to install this on a playground, as they seem vaguely unsafe.

Some of that feeling might be due to the smug look on that duck's face, though.

I crossed four lanes of traffic when I saw these rusty trucks:

Fortunately I was up early enough that there was no traffic.

When I got close enough to peer through the fence, I discovered that there was a family of cats (I'm assuming feral) under the truck in front.

The little gray one ignored me after about ten seconds, playing in the grass and chasing bugs or something, but the black and white one watched me the entire time. I'm willing to bet that if those cats were on a dangerously unsafe vintage playground, the little gray one would be busy launching a smug duck at the black and white one's back.